Tuesday, 25 March 2014

A jihadi group occupying the Syrian town of Raqqa recently gave Christian minorities living there three choices: 1) convert to Islam, 2) remain Christian but pay tribute and accept third-class subject status, or 3) die by the sword.

According to the BBC, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a directive

citing the Islamic concept of “dhimma”, [which] requires Christians in the city to pay tax of around half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety. It says Christians must not make renovations to churches, display crosses or other religious symbols outside churches, ring church bells or pray in public. Christians must not carry arms, and must follow other rules imposed by ISIS (also known as ISIL) on their daily lives. The statement said the group had met Christian representatives and offered them three choices—they could convert to Islam, accept ISIS’ conditions, or reject their control and risk being killed. “If they reject, they are subject to being legitimate targets, and nothing will remain between them and ISIS other than the sword,” the statement said.

Because several Western media outlets uncharacteristically reported on this latest atrocity against Syrian Christians, many Westerners are shocked—amazed to hear of such draconian conditions.

In reality, however, these three choices are fully grounded in Islamic teachings, as shall be demonstrated below.

Friday, 14 March 2014

Earlier I posted a story about Sharia in action in Iraq: a new law to permit child brides and marital rape.Here is another story -- live tweeting the amputation of a hand for alleged theft. This is in line with Sharia law:

"The penalty for theft. A person's right hand is amputated, whether his is a Muslim, non-Muslim subject of the Islamic state, or sonmeon who has left Islam..."The authoritative Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, 14.0.1

The people carrying out this punishment are part of the opposition to Syria's government, supported by the US and its allies.

When I crossed Africa from Cape Town to Cairo in 2011, China was often in evidence: building roads, bridges, dams. Overall, they clearly benefited the local population: there's a lot more development near roads, for example. Did they alway use local labour? Well, no, but not always because they didn't want to. In some cases, we were told that the Chinese had hired local folk, only to find those locals walking away after a few weeks because they couldn't keep up with the Chinese work rate...
The article here is by the Chinese Minister in charge of foreign aid. But, just because the Party says it doesn't mean it isn't true... Some of his points are surely correct. Eg, the hiring of 16,000 locals to build Merowa dam in Sudan.
We also drove along a superb new highway in Sudan. Way better than the desert track it was before.

The new legislation would permit marriage for girls as young as nine-years old. In the case of divorce, custody of any child over the age of two would automatically be given to the father. In addition, the new legislation allows marital rape, giving the man the right to sexual intercourse with his wife whenever he chooses. Overall, all marriages, divorces and inheritance cases would be legislated according to the Ja’afi interpretation of shariah law and administered by Shiite clergy members

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

BBC Radio here in Hong Kong has a looping report on sexual harassment of women in the EU. The highest incidence is in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries.
The reports opine that the reason for that may be that these issues are more discussed in places like Denmark. They also suggest that it may be due to women entering the job market in non-traditional roles and thus facing some resentment and fight-back in the shape of sexual harassment.
What they don't mention is that there's been plenty of evidence in recent years -- including in police statistics -- that the sharp rise in Scandinavian rape and other sexual predation has been sheeted home directly to "ethnic groups" and in particular to Muslim men.
In the case of Norway, the police reports for 2011 show that 100% (no, not 80% or 90% but the whole lot) of violent rapes were by Muslim men and that most were against white Norwegian women.
Could BBC mention this? No way.... that would be "Islamophobic"...

"...it is the duty of those who have accepted Islam to strive unceasingly to convert or subjugate those who have not. This obligation is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state."

-- Bernard Lewis, renowned historian of Islam and the Middle East, in The Political Language of Islam, p72-3.

In other words:

"Islam is unique among religions of the world in having a developed doctrine, theology and legal system that mandates warfare against unbelievers."